


Attack of the Dead Men (Songfic)

by Poztupim



Category: Warcraft - All Media Types, World of Warcraft
Genre: 7th Legion, Attack of the Dead Men - Sabaton, Body Horror, Forsaken, Gen, Invasion of Gilneas, Songfic, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:29:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22290340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poztupim/pseuds/Poztupim
Summary: Songfic to Sabaton - Attack of the Dead Men (2019) in the Warcraft Universe. Several first-hand accounts on the Second Forsaken Attack on Cathedral Square, fiercely defended by soldiers of the 7th Legion.
Kudos: 1





	Attack of the Dead Men (Songfic)

**Author's Note:**

> After listening to "Attack of the Dead Men" I just had to incorporate this equally badass and harrowing song about the poison gas attack on Osowiec Fortress in 1915 into the Warcraftverse. What would have worked better than (my slightly altered version of) the Invasion of Gilneas?

At dawnbreak a lone bat came over us, before commencing a scouting run to the northeast. A few explosions were heard, green smoke rising to the bloodied sky. Screams were heard, roars and bellows. The bat returned to the city, it landed near the main square. A woman jumped off the cleary displaced animal – after all it was a plague bat of the Banshee Queen, subdued by magic and turned against its creator, but one could not know if the binding would hold forever. The evacuation began shortly after, citizens and the remnants of the Gilnean Guard retreating through an underground tunnel. We were ordered to hold the rear, to defend the city until all civilians were out of immediate danger. This is what the 7th Legion is used to – uncountable numbers of enemies charging towards us, almost no hope of survival and us being able to pull off a shining victory despite all the cards stacked against us. This time should not be any different, at least as far as I was concerned. Morale was still good, the legionaries were itching for a fight. We lost some of our brethren in small skirmishes and we wanted revenge against those undead monstrosities. We would pull this off again, for Stormwind and for the Alliance. We would not break!  
_Lt. Dorothea Miller, 7th Legion, 1. Force Recons_

Well, it didn‘t surprise me: No one ever said the Gilneans were dull when it came to warfare. First the outbreak of the Worgen plague. These beasts were resistant to our kind of plague and could rip a bloody swath through an infantry formation. Then the sinking of our naval support, just off the coast. The ambush for the royal family was equally foiled by an unforeseen disturbance of the local ettin clan. At last they managed to get reinforcements from the Alliance: A small detachment of Legionaries as well as a few night elf sentinels. The sentinels poised a threat in the west, although our orcish allies should take care of them. The legionaries were a problem we had to concern us with. Now the bombing run with a captured plague bat, which didn‘t do much damage but made the crews abandon their plague wagons. Until everything was reorganized and the order of battle reestablished precious time was lost. Some of our scouts reported that the ramparts were abandoned and the only defenders visible wore Alliance uniforms as well as the golden armour of an elite commando. But that is all right, it made our attack even easier. No worgen defending the city means no plague resistance. At 0900 the skies above western Gilneas would turn dark before a shining green dawn greeted our newest guests. I didn‘t even knew I was an artist before this morning. So many surprises in so few days …  
_High Executor Crenshaw, Forsaken Invasion Force „Gilneas“_

„Turmoil at the front,  
Wilhelm‘s force on the hunt.  
There‘s a thunder in the east,  
it‘s an attack of the deceased.“  
_Sabaton, „Attack of the Dead Men“, 2019_

The attack was devastating: At 0900 the forsaken started their bombardment. We were caught in the rain, completely unprepared, because we were sure they would charge at us directly or try a pincer movement to cut us off from the rest of the city. They shouldn‘t have used their plague, since the Worgen curse made everyone who was afflicted resistant to the Plague of Undeath. Gilneas had included the Worgen into their army and as far as we knew, the retreat was still a secret only known to us. They shouldn‘t have anticipated this move, it was not possible! The Gilneans moved through an underground network outside of the Forsakens range. They shouldn‘t have used their lights-damned plague! So our defense fell apart. The canals were lined with dying soldiers, the backstreets with remaining civilians, coughing up blood and ichor. 2. Force Recon did not exist anymore. It held the outer rim of Cathedral Square and was annihilated before they could react. I don‘t know if we had luck or not, because the gas cloud only spread to the bottom of the stairs up to the Cathedral itself. We were only affected by the sickening and painful, but not inherently deadly toxins, so we were still alive when the first Horde forces crossed into the city limits. Broken, but still alive.  
_Lt. Dorothea Miller, 7th Legion, 1. Force Recons_

„They‘ve been facing poison gas,  
7000 charge en masse.  
Turn the tide of the attack  
and force the enemy to turn back.“  
_Sabaton, „Attack of the Dead Men“, 2019_

I saw many battlefields: I was at Silverpine when we expanded southwards, I was at Vengeance Landing, when we developed the newest strain of plague for our Queen. I was at the Wrathgate, at Undercity, at Southshore. But I‘ve never seen such a horror like the one that befell us when we crossed into Cathedral Square. The apothecaries said all we had to do was mop up any stragglers after the bombardment and seize the city center of Gilneas. When we crossed the outer canals they were choked with dead or dying soldiers, from the looks of it, Alliance legionaries. We waded across, giving most survivors the mercy of a quick death, leaving the rest to the forces in our rear. Ascending up the stoneworks we saw the formerly green gras blackened and equally dotted with corpses or soon-to-be corpses. The Queens val‘kyr would have a nice piece of work before them, so many new brethren to raise on HER command, filling up our depleted ranks. The cathedral steps were strewn as well with the fallen forms of golden-clad soldiers and when we approached them no one would have thought that they were still alive. Still in fighting shape! When our battalion moved in, they rose and counter-charged us! They were vomiting blood, blood flowing freely from mouth and nostrils, movements jerky – eyes filled with rage and pure, unadultered hatred. „And that‘s when the dead men are marching again.“ I thought to myself and I would still shudder if I could when remembering these monstrosities charging us through the weakening fog of plague toxins.  
_Battalion Commander Deathshroud,  
4th Royal Dreadguards, 3. Battalion_

„Osowiec then and again,  
attack of the dead, hundred men.  
Facing the lead once again.  
Hundred men, charge again, die again.“  
_Sabaton, „Attack of the Dead Men“, 2019_


End file.
